'Bronte the Opera' to premiere at this year's Grimeborn Festival
Composer Lisa Logan
Keynote Opera has announced the world premiere of Brontë the Opera, a stunning look into the turbulent lives of the Brontë sisters that is set to debut at Grimeborn Festival in Hackney’s Arcola Theatre this September.
Based on the acclaimed play Brontë by Polly Teale, Brontë the Opera is the artistic brainchild of emerging composer Lisa Logan, who explores what it is to be powerful and ultimately successful women, struggling to be treated seriously in their time.
Through Logan's music, the turbulent and inspiring lives of the Brontë sisters are brought to the stage in a unique blend of fact and fiction, where characters from their renowned novels intermingle with their personal realities.
Director Katharina Kastening
‘Emily Brontë and Jane Austen were the only writers in the pre-feminist era who refused to bow to social convention’, Virginia Woolf argued. Polly Teale’s play, which has been adapted for this opera, is regarded as a significant feminist play of the early 21st century.
Brontë the Opera builds on the play’s themes, exploring female intellectuality and lack of equality, femininity, domesticity, female ambition and discrimination; cleverly interwoven between the life and fiction of the Brontë sisters.
This opera is about powerful and ultimately successful women, struggling to be treated seriously in their time, by an emerging female composer. Director Katharina Kastening says:
“I’m thrilled to direct this new opera. Brontë the Opera is a compelling exploration of the lives of the Brontë sisters through a modern lens, entwined with an intricate and intelligently sculpted composition. Bringing the Brontë sisters’ story to life through opera allows for a more visceral depiction of the three famous sisters.”
The world premiere will take place on September 13th this year, with a preview show available on September 12th. Additional performances are scheduled for September 15th and 16th with all shows taking place at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney, London. Tickets start at £12 and are available by clicking the button below.
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